Memorandum from Acting Secretary of State Joseph Grew to President Harry S. Truman

TOP SECRET DECLASSIFIED E.O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (R) DEPARTMENT OF STATE WASHINGTON Dept. of State letter, Aug. 10, 1972 By NLT-RC NARS Date: 25 June 27, 1945 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT Subject: Current Foreign Developments US Relations with Poland. The Legal Adviser con- siders that a formal written assurance from the new Polish Government that it expects to observe Poland's international obligations is not necessary, since it is a well-established practice that a successor government such as this succeeds to both the rights and obligations of the former regime. As Harriman has already pointed this out to the members of the new Polish Government he has put them on notice of the existence of this international practice and need only tell them further that the US naturally expects them to comply with this well-established precedent. As there have been radio reports from Moscow that the 16 accused Poles were also responsible for crimes committed against the Polish state and people and will accordingly also be brought before Polish courts for punishment, Embassy Moscow is instructed to learn whether or not a second trial in Poland of these men is actually contemplated. Harriman has been asked to comment on the British suggestion that, when the Warsaw government notifies the Big Three that it has been established in conformity with the Yalta agreement, it add a pledge in that message that it will hold free elections. As the US press has been asking whether we have a definite pledge on this matter, which is part of Yalta, we must be prepared to make some concrete statement about it. After further conversations with Bierut, Osubka Morawski and Mikolajczyk, Harriman strongly recommends AND that